


Alloy and Element

by Nemi_Thine



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Dark Side of Dimensions Spoiler, Fancy Atem, Gen, KaibaCorp, M/M, Multi, Mutual Sugar Bae AU, Oh god I hope I can get far enough along that the pairings apply, Science, TRANSCEND: GAME Spoiler, send help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-09-29 20:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10142837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemi_Thine/pseuds/Nemi_Thine
Summary: Spoiler avoidant summary:A story about the transition of technology between TRANSCEND: GAME and DSOD, and the transition of characters afterwards.





	1. Dismissal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dramatic Kaiba is Dramatic and has no patience for inferior products unworthy of the KaibaCorp name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big fucking thank you to both card_gays and yugihell of tumblr.
> 
> card_gays, I forgot all the sugar bae headcanons I anon sent you, what is wrong with me?
> 
> yugihell, you are 100% correct, it is yugioh hell, send help.

Seto Kaiba looked out over his VR testers. It had been his vision which he had forged into reality; egg-shaped helmets that incubated their ideas and brought them to life, joined their minds together in something safe and joyful.

But of course, it really didn’t. He had failed. This wasn’t bringing a fantasy to life. Oh yes, they were all quite pleased with the visions bestowed, but they were just…daydreams. Turning life into fantasy. In exchange for being able to share with more people he had taken a step backward from SolidVision.

And it could kill them. If any of them had the will to reach as he had. Well the firmware update should take care of that, but it was just another step backward towards the death of his dream.

Not that the protection was vital in any way. Most people just didn’t put forth the effort to achieve what they could. Seto didn’t understand that, didn't understand how people could just not exert themselves. Yet every day he lived with the idiocy of people, shoving the evidence in his face. He could accept it as fact and move on to lowering the barriers between them so what tiny bit of effort they could be assed to put forth could _do_ something.

But whatever they did would be in the realm of mind, and incapable of changing reality unless they had the will to do so. It had taken all their minds, all their wills, strapped to his to even attempt to transcend the game, this reality. For the first time since he was a child Seto Kaiba had discovered a limit to his mind. He would transcend the pathetic meat model he was stuck using—

“This is a farce,” he said turning and stalking away, “Shut it down.”

“But Sir! This is--”

“Unworthy of the Kaiba Corp name.” Still, he did try to acknowledge the work and opinions of his subordinates. It did take effort on his part, however. “Throw it to one of the subsidiaries. They can release it to silent discos next year.” A thought bubbled up from restless connections. “Get someone to work programming a more mundane VR world and release it to hospitals and elderly care in three months.” 

“But sir, why?”

Seto Kaiba smiled, “I have a better idea”

—and he already knew how to do it.

\--

Quiet steps fell in line behind him as he stalked away from the testing room, “Sir.”

“Isono,” Seto acknowledged, “What do they have you begging after me for this time?”

Isono had been with him since the beginning, the nigh unflappable bodyguard was confirmed to have killed in the line of duty and carried his handgun close. Still, he was more approachable than his boss, a seventeen-year-old boy (who now also carried a gun, not that many knew that.) “They wanted to know why you were angry, Sir.”

“Idiots, what do I even pay them for? Do you remember when I invented the VR tech, Isono?”

“Under your predecessor, Sir.” Delicately stated for a delicate subject. Or it would be delicate for lesser men, Seto Kaiba was never going to let that man hurt him again. Even his memory was being ground down to nothing with every step Seto took into the future.

“Exactly, to rely on such is a step backward for our company. I’m not going to make some fantasy world for people too weak to reach out for their goals with their own two hands!”

The shifting of material as Isono adjusted his tie. “If you would forgive me for saying so, Sir, that sounds awfully… _Randian_ of you.”

Seto scoffed. “I’d thank you to never compare me to that hack who’d wouldn’t know formal logic if it bit her goddamn eyes out. The only thing of value in her works are door stops and the ideal of achievement that can change the world through dedication.” He dipped his head slightly and seemed to stand straighter, pride, or perhaps to hold up the sky. “It’s true, though. I may be a ‘ _Randian_ Genius,’ but I’m no _Ubermensch_ ,” the hard foreign words were perfectly pronounced, glaring in the more sublime Japanese. “I am not the best anymore, my mores do not make for happy people, and I have no love of this world.”

“Sir,” and now Isono sounded offended. “You have contributed so much to the sciences! To medicine, even now doctors are using your technology to diagnose patients and do surgery in hospitals you built! Because of you there is a whole new field of art! On top of all that you are an incredible philanthropist!”

There was a line of Seto’s spine and shoulders, more an impression in the air than something that could be traced with the eyes. It relaxed ever so slightly under the praise, under the life-saving reaffirmation of loyalty. “Which is liable to make me the worst sort of devil in that philosophy. I pay well Isono, because I want things done and I want them done right. I pay taxes because I like civilization. I pay for what I want, Isono. Most people are too stupid to do so. Most people are too weak to reach out with their own two hands and pull themselves into the future. 

“Look at my workers, Isono. They aren’t as smart as me, they aren’t as competent as me, and a mere handful are as driven as me. _I_ answer their questions, _I_ give them the tools.” Seto Kaiba half turned, brilliant as one of his dragons, “Fine then! Virtual Reality is a farce! I will make the tools to _change_ reality and put it into their hands!”


	2. Slag and Slake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the series and this fic is a huge sausage fest I really wanted to pass the Bechdel-Wallace test while I still could.
> 
> Sciency ladies talk science. It was one of my favorite parts to write.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to dedicate this chapter to Laryna6, and Iced-Blood (whos’ over on ffn).
> 
> He is incredible and basically dictated so many of my Kaiba headcanons.  
> Even not using the headcanons of Seto’s eating and sleeping habits Seto Kaiba is still the most physically adept person on the show, to the point where it’s pure madness. Remeber how he was running fully tilt, carrying Mokuba in one hand, threw Mokuba five feet, and then jumped like, ten feet to nail a goddamn super hero landing? How about the time he jumped out a window overlooking the ocean, on a cliff, while carrying a briefcase?
> 
> Thank you again to card-gays for the scientist post, it helped in this chapter.
> 
> For those of you who don't know, Seto's scientists have names in canon, which I used. There a few bilingual bonuses, but the big one is Toyota. The canon characters for her name are: 登 代 田
> 
> Look them up on wiktionary.

The boy was brilliant, and Isono had to keep reminding himself of this.

He was a boy, no matter how tall, how brilliant, how impossible, he was still a child.

Isono just wasn’t certain if he was human or not. Gozaburo hadn’t been certain either, not after a few months, not after a year. What That Man had done should have killed that little boy, and it all but had, though the body had churned on. When he should have been broken, he kept going, when he should have been dead, he crumbled.

He was still crumbling, Isono thought. He was still crumbling, everyone knew if they spent a modicum of time around him, paying attention. Too much abuse, too much everything, even the very thing that still gave him joy, that still let him be a child was a source of pressure and loathing.

Isono had many jobs, he was butler and bodyguard, advisor and assistant. Seto had been his charge since nearly the moment he had been adopted.

Everyone knew he was brilliant when Gozaburo had brought the boys home. The whispers rushed out, circled like mist and whirlpools, the Master had been defeated in chess by that slip of a boy.

(Shht. Don’t say it too loud unless you want to _retire_.)

He had been a clever child.

(He probably cheated.)

He hadn’t needed to cheat.

(The Master _must_ be kind and generous.)

A brilliant child. Glories flowed, bled, from the font of Seto’s head, even as a newly adopted child. Blood was staunched by dragons, gifted in drips and drabs, each one paid for in pain and murder. Clever targeting systems, ignition systems. Newer, better, fuel systems. It all cumulated in the creation of his virtual reality system, a magnesium bright flash in the pan, or so it seemed.

He had wanted it for games, for escape, for joy. The boy’s mind and will were a fairy tale castle. (Though in recent years he traded it for a wizard’s tower.) That Man had no patience for fantasy and tore it down brick by brick.

Genius faded then, slowly, hiding away, a flash of inspiration and not something he could manage on a consistent basis. He hid, he and his brother showing cruel sides, tarnished and ugly, dealing with Gozaburo’s hunger pangs by pleasing him with cruelty. Or so it seemed.

They had noticed it far too late, thinking the exterior was just a show for the dragon within, and not a tomb.

Crushed, crumbling, hanging on by fingernails, half-remembered promises, habit, and hate.

As Gozaburo fell, after he fell, Seto Kaiba had not snapped back. He had fumbled, reached for dreams while lacking the emotions that had fueled them. They had been little monsters. But more unforgivably, he had become so utterly, _breathtakingly_ , stupid.

A bad copy. Shitty, shitty, re-con. Sloppy, sloppy execution. It was just as well Seto had gone to a school far below his mental capacity because at the time he couldn’t even handle _that_.

And damn him for being surprised by it. He wasn’t human, but he was still a _child_.

The nightmares had been horrid for the whole damn household, but thank the gods it had started to shake things loose, given the boy some other trauma to focus on, they all thought. He had cranked out the dueling arenas quickly after that, but goddamn everyone was lucky that they had managed to pin the stress that caused his coma on the government's pressure on Seto’s attempts to hold onto what was his by blood shared and blood paid.

Kaiba Corp had legal services dedicated to going after governments, that had been the first time they had done truly good work.

The reason for the steep fall in brilliance was obvious in retrospect.

(Not human, but still a boy, the seeming of destruction was true)

Gozaburo Kaiba had not allowed the boy to eat enough, to sleep enough, to heal enough. Deeply ingrained habits that even yet shaped the young engineer. He forgot to eat, he forgot to sleep. Yet, he forged wonders and kept himself in such peak physical condition that he was more than a challenge for many full time bodyguards.

It was physically impossible for Seto Kaiba to perform mentally and physically as he did.

Isono didn’t think Seto was the next step in human evolution, he was an educated man, and quite simply Seto was leagues too far advanced for something like that.

Office pot laid odds Sixty-Forty that he was actually a dragon. Most everyone else said magic—spend enough time around good duelists and you just stop doubting that the stuff existed. Isono had been ‘privileged’ to be around the best duelists in the world, and from what he saw magic didn’t work like that.

(Isono had two anonymous bets laid out: the first was that Seto was part dragon by way of enchantment, and the second that he was actually a god. Isono was a hundred percent certain he was going to make out like a goddamn bandit if the truth was ever revealed.)

(Not that it was necessary, the Household had a much better retirement plan nowadays.)

(Old habits died hard.)

–

Akiko felt her chest fill, her heart soaring as she put down the pen. The NDAs were signed and her new job, not even her dream job, because who dared to dream this?

“Okay, Professor Toyota,” said the roundest of her new coworkers as he sealed up the papers and handed them off to a clerical worker. “Everything is done by the books, and as per our tradition, until we leave this room everything is off the books unless it’s criminal, so feel free to speak freely. As the senior member, let me be the first to welcome you, I’m Gilbo Noo. But there’s someone else here who is more eager to welcome you,” he said, his smile tight as he held back laughter.

“I’m Professor Kuwabara,” said an older man, bearded, graying, but with long hair, the tallest of the group, “I used to be the most junior member. Let me thank you for rising to the occasion and replacing me in that field, now perhaps the bad jokes will stop.”

The blinked at him, but slowly, ruefully, smiled, “That was terrible, obviously the jokes have rubbed off on you.”

They all shared a laugh then, scripted of course, Kuwabara had probably been practicing the line since he found out she might be hired. But it was still funny, and as good an icebreaker as the weather.

She pushed her glasses further up her nose, still smiling, “Is there an orientation for the team, or..?” She gestured in the direction her NDAs were taken, “There’s not much information out there.”

A younger looking man in a lab coat waved from slightly in back, his hair slightly puffed up in the front. “It’s like being in a fellowship again. I’m Kagami, by the way.”

Akiko’s eyebrow slowly raised, “Really now.”

“Working on your own projects, stretching your wings, getting help and advice from your mentor…and slaving away at said mentor’s own projects.”

“You still got to kiss ass though,” interjected the only person not wearing a lab coat. “But you end up wanting to do that just so he stops.”

“I’m sorry but, who are you?”

“Professor Tanda, I’m experimenting, it’s a heavy burden but I got it.” Now that was just befuddling, and it must have shown. “Trying to see if the boss is more…amenable if we’re dressed casually or not, and as there’s usually no dress code...”

“Punk doesn’t have an effect, despite his preferences in friend,” Kagami quipped, “When I found out there was no dress-code I decided to test that.”

“And I still say it’s because he’s prejudiced against pompadours.”

“You have access to the same reports I do, we looked nothing alike.”

“Ignore them,” said the only other woman, patting her elbow. “I’m Ruriko Watanabe. I’ll get your started on the orientation, you’ll need a few primers.”

“Oh good,” Toyota was relived that there was something to latch on to that made sense. “What do I have to learn?”

“Well, the previous president is to be called Mister Kaiba’s predecessor, not his father. Vice President Kaiba is to be given respect, while not as scientifically apt as his brother, he is likely smarter than you. On the more technical side of thing, using our industrial fabricators will require perhaps a week of classes. They’re better than what the public thinks. If you already know how to use KaibaCAD, good, that will save some time. Also, the in-house philosophy for three-dee chip design is different from what’s going on outside, so you’ll need lessons on that too. It helps if you’re familiar with antropic cascade hypothesis.”

Luck studies? For chip design? Or just in general?

“A bit. I have an aunt in the military, she’s a duelist, but not eccentric, and…”

“No gun jams, the food didn’t get bad, care packages arrived on time.”

“I couldn’t say, I mean, she talked about it, but I was a tiny little skeptic even when I was a little girl. I mean, I counted things that happened when she was home and when she wasn’t, how often stuff broke down. And she was right, if I ever find “Baby’s first Statistical Analysis” in mom’s heap of stuff I want to check my conclusions.”

“Maybe you could do a second study for comparison in time. Case studies can be so much fun. Oh, right, and we’ll need to test you for G-force tolerance and get you some zero G training.”

“Wait, what _?_ ”

“So you know how Kaiba Corp has single module space station that is the primary storage and server farm?” Watanabe pointed at the ceiling and made a circling gesture, indicating the discus shape of the structure.

“Yes, to keep people from breaking in,” _again_.

“We have daily flights on standby booked with SpaceX in case things go wrong and there needs to be maintenance. Usually nothing happens, but if something does we pay the costs and usually one of us goes up with some extra feed stock for the fabricator, and other things.”

Someone had stolen her breath, her heart was no longer confined to her chest, it soared into white fire and gunpowder void. _Astronaut._

_Best. Job. Ever._

Noo came closer, smiling “Are you done filling her in, Ruriko?”

“On the technical side of things,” she replied, bowing her head, “As you were here for the reformation, I thought you’d be best for the other matters.”

“Ah. Probably for the best then.” Professor Noo turned to her, and suddenly they were the center of attention. “There are two things you must realize about Seto Kaiba. You are of course aware of our employer's public persona?” She nodded silently, wondering where this was going, and he continued. “It is not a persona. While he is often more reserved while at work, Mister Kaiba is a man who feels deeply and passionately. He is perhaps the most driven man I have ever met. We are here to help him on the path he has chosen.”

The boss was fabulous, and going by that ‘often’ qualifier, sometimes prone to tantrums. She could deal with that. “Yes Sir, I understand.”

“Did you see any thing wrong with what I said, Professor?”

“Not on the face of it, no.” Nice, polite office politics.

“Most people don’t.” And he looked older than Kuwabara as his shoulders dropped and his face became somber. “I called him a man. He’s not, and we must remember that. He’s a boy not even old enough to vote. It’s something this entire company forgets all too easily. I forgot it too.”

He breathed, and color came back, “He’s a boy with too much on his shoulders, not enough sleep, and not enough friends. We’re not here to be his friends, but we do have a responsibility to watch out for him. Recently he’s entered a state of instability due to…If this was any other situation I would call it the loss of a friend. It is my honest belief that he is attempting to move on to acceptance, but first he requires closure, and he is not approaching that well at all.”

And they watched her, and they waited.

She made herself nod, slowly. “Emotional minefields and idiosyncrasies in the boss. Going for my Ph.D. all over again.”

Tanda laughed, a quick explosion of air and mirth. “Only we get paid. A lot.”

“Amen,” they all agreed.

–

Mokuba Kaiba wasn’t blind. He knew his brother better than anyone, and now he had, not the distance, no…But he could stand on his own now, and so he was not so blind.

Nii-sama did everything to protect him, did everything for him. But Seto was a goddamn mess, a child made old before he was twelve.

His big brother was running head first towards another event. Not anything like Death-T, but an all-encompassing obsession, and breakdown.

(Damn it, Atem, why couldn’t you have kept your promise?)

He was vice president, he was old enough now to confront him. “You’re killing yourself again. Heading for another fugue state at least. I don’t…you know that I don’t hold it against you for having your own things, Nii-sama, outside of me and the company. It makes me happy,” that you aren’t that broken, “But you have to be healthier about it.”

And Seto, dear beloved Nii-sama, didn’t argue. “You’re right, Mokuba. Let’s go over my will too.”

(Damn it, Nii-sama.)

“You better not be over reacting,” Mokuba grumbled and hugged his brother around the waist with one arm while Seto scruffed his hair.

“Given what we’ve been though, being prepared for anything is--”

“--It realistically includes zombie apocalypses, doesn’t it?”

Seto huffed out a little laugh, “It’s catching the imagination of people, and Duel Monsters catches the imagination, I don’t see the problem.”

Mokuba wished Seto had been joking. “An island with automated farm—underground hydroponics and full Internet back up and fabricators…Nii-sama, I could reboot the entire world after an apocalypse in this compound.”

“Yes,” he agreed, “That’s the point, and I know you think it’s too much, that’s why you’re not allowed to liquidate it.”

“I really love the gardens you designed for the tower roof and balconies,” though calling the large moving platforms balconies were underselling them a bit. “But why do they have air-tight closures?”

“In case the sea level rising, and extreme weather phenomenon.”

Mokuba couldn’t even sigh and put his face in his hands, because his brother was probably right. He didn’t like it though, didn’t like that his brother was so prepared to be taken out of the picture, so ready to die.

Seto was alive for three reasons exactly. Pure, unrelenting spite, achieving their dream, and taking care of…him.

Gozaburo was dead and forgotten, Kaiba Weapons Development Corp was so dead that not even governments thought longingly of it anymore.

Kaibalands were in full swing, partnered with Disney, children’s aide organizations have never had more money. There were KaibaCorp full ride grants for people seeking social worker degrees.

Seto had become an adult at a very young age, and Mokuba was ever growing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday present to you!


End file.
